Category Archive

Well, today I was still feeling pretty ill so I continued doing very little -  and I continued to try to stitch despite the lack of fine motor skills and consequent finger pricks drawing blood.   A little while ago I purchased a lovely book called “Mixed Media Explorations” by Beryl Taylor.  It was very inspiring and while it doesn’t give a lot of detail on the techniques, it’s a good jumping off point.  So, thanks to this book I’ve been experimenting with fabric dye sticks to make a background colour and slight pattern and then embelishing with embroidery. 

I quite like the tiny fairy person.

and my little star

I just had to play with it, I couldn’t help myself after buying a “cheap as chips” polymer clay book.  I’ve joined a couple of spinning groups on ravelry including “spindlemakers”.  I really  wanted to try a bottom whorl spindle…so why not make one, right?!  Several people had made theirs out of polymer clay so I thought I’d give it a go.  Mixing colours was a little difficult as I don’t think the primary colours are “true” - so mixing red and blue did not make purple.  But blue and yellow gave a nice green so maybe the problem was with the red?  Anyway, here’s the result…the shaft is a 99cent wooden knitting needle.

And it spins like a dream.  I was so suprised.  It doesn’t spin out a lot and it spins for a really long time.  The fiber is a wool/silk blend.  It’s a bit sparkly…both the fiber and the spindle.  I pressed pearlescent powder into the fimo before baking.

And since I was onto the fimo - I tried to make some canes.  Not perfect.  Not good enough for beads, but OK for stitch markers I think.

I am so pleased to have finished this jumper.  It’s a pattern from Interweave Knits called Notre Dame De Grace by Veronik Avery.  It was a lovely easy knit - just right for train journeys.  Becasue it’s summer though, it’s taken me a long while to sew up.  The last few days have turned all nasty, weather-wise, and so were perfect for finishing up.   The Lindcraft cosy wool is a little scratchy but as I’ll probably be wearing long sleeved shirts under it anyway, I don’t think it will matter too much.   I’m always suprised that I don’t look like the model in the picture though…It hugs my curves a bit too much….But there’s more to worry about than that eh?

Well…I’ve just been tagged by Jessica Marie from Folk and Fairy blog and so have just discovered what it means to be tagged.   I love her blog, she puts so much work into finding fairythings that I love to look at.

This is what it means: There are rules to follow and the rules are:

So I’ll try to follow the rules - something I wish I could say I was not very good at but unfortunately I am such a responsible person that I often follow rules.

Random thing no. 1:

I used to sing to the fairies  when Mum locked me outside because I’d been “naughty” - I truly believed they could hear me.

Random thing no 2:

I still have my diaries, into which I poured my soul,   from ages 14 - 22.   Unfortunately they are quite boring to read, though life certainly seemed a lot more interesting at the time.

Random thing no 3:

I have studied at almost every uni in Sydney  ( 5 different uni’s to be exact - this is not a source of pride - I kept on swapping courses and managed to study Psych 101 twice!)

Random thing no 4:

I am terrible at Maths, really terrible…seriously terrible - this will result in my never being a knitting pattern writer and also meant that I couldn’t continue with Psychology as I couldn’t do the Stats, at all.  I failed stats which was a bummer because I got an HD for the Psych bit.

Random thing no 5:

My party trick is to let my jaw go very loose, open my mouth incredibly wide and put my hands aside my head in a “shocked position” - People tell me I look like the painting “The Scream” by Munch.

Random thing no 6:

I can cook a good Moussaka and very good shortbread - the two don’t neccessarily go together.

Random thing no 7:

I am still very close friends with a girl I met in second grade at primary school when we were aged 6. 

 And I am going to tag:

Your Personality is Very Rare (INFP)

Your personality type is dreamy, romantic, elegant, and expressive.Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 6% of all women and 4% of all men You are Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

For anyone wondering….yep that’s a pretty accurate desciption of me, I think.  Though I would hate to think this personality type is that rare.  I thought it was cute, though of course I would do, seeing as how I’m perceptive and all.

I’m thinking my brain must be unconsiously caught up with creating some really spectacular philosophical concept that prevents me from accomplishing ordinary tasks in ordinary time.  How else to explain why it takes me so long to complete one miniscule TAST stitch. 

But here we go.

It’s  Week 15’s Oyster stitch.  I think it would have turned out better if I’d planned it a little bit but I really liked playing with where to put the “arm” of the stitch and elongating the last part of the stitch so it sort of produces a stem.  I also have been playing with different weights of thread a bit lately - and I really love the perle cotton.

The other day a beautiful dragonfly decided to visit our house.  Before we “saved” him and put him outside to battle the birds, I took a photo.  He/she makes a beautiful drawing subject, I think.

This seemed like a  really nice idea.   I’ve only done atc swaps before but this seemed like such a positive and trust enhancing one that I couldn’t just let it be.

I found out about it from Craftlover and I am happy to join this  PIF!!  I’ve used her words to explain it as I couldn’t do any better.

So, what is it?  These are the instructions:
“It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on.
So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.I will now Pay It Forward to you THREE, I wonder who you will be?! Please, be a PIF You will enjoy it just as much as we do!”And, remember…you have 6 months to get your gifts done!

“It’s not very pretty, is it?” was the response from my partner upon seeing this TAST project, “couching”.  Well, no, I have to admit it’s not very pretty.  But it is a fair representation of what’s going on inside my brain at the present time.  Hell of a week = hell of an embroidery piece. 

I feel like I have to hurry up a bit on the TAST weeks, having spent so much time on  the cross - stitch week.  So here’s the next offering, Barred Chain Stitch.  I did a sort of Mr Squiggle on it. i.e. put a few lines in and then thought “hmm, Miss Jane, what could this be?”   Now I ask myself… Why does it have to be anything in particular? But here it is.

I also tried Crochet, again.  I tried to learn it about a year ago without success.  I found that my hand cramped up really easily.  I was chatting to Marly from The Yarn Thing, on Skype, and she suggested holding the hook like a knife instead of a pencil.  I think I had tried it before but it seemed awkward.  But I persisted this time and it was more comfortable for my hand, even if the motion wasn’t as easy as the other had been.  Anyway I needed to use up some left over yarn from other projects.  I made a simple dishcloth first and then I made a simple little baby hat.  It is really simple but I’m quite proud of it as I made it up as I went and I like the little flower.  It sort of looks like a waterlily to me.  So I’m calling it the waterlily hat. 

It’s after Easter.  Hope everyone had a happy one.  It seemed to come and go quickly and I was caught up in the rush of trying to get pretty eggs for everyone.  A bit sad. 

I did manage to make some hand dyed eggs and fill them with tiny m & m’s and petit florals though.  I think the family liked them.  No photos because I forgot to take them before I gave them away.  Never mind, they live on in my memory.  They are probably prettier there anyway.

 Instead we have a photo of an underwater embroidery piece that I’ve just completed for Take a Stitch Tuesday.  I had to redo the seahorse after my partner strolled in and said “Ahh… cute girafffe”.  I hope it looks like a seahorse now. 

 My sister really liked her Wine and Roses mitts and seemed particulalry pleased with the colour choice.  I do love it when I pick the right colours for someone.

So today I’ve got some free time to post.  Good news. Bad news - I’ve got nothing of substance in my brain to post about!  So I thought I’d just come up with a plan to poke and prod some substance in there. 

Firstly:  Do some exercise!  yep.. I’ve done it.  Bizzarely stretching and dancing in my living room until I broke a sweat.

Secondly: Make preserved lemons. Done.  Very easy.  Very nice to look forward to.

Third: Start posting.  Amazingly, in doing just those two things, I found myself with something to post about.  A thought cropped up as I wondered what to do.  In wondering what to write about I found that my task today was to wonder.  So the rest of the plan is as follows.

Fouth: Take a walk by the ocean. Imagine all the people across it.  You may even be across it. Look at the clifftop and contemplate its’ life.  Its’ time here, on earth, way before any of us existed.  Contemplate the fact that we do exist.  The great paradox- that we all matter, as individuals and as a collective, and yet none of us matter any more than the other.  Am I getting some substance yet?

Fifth: Complete card no. 2 of the Artists trading swap.  I’ve really got to get going on this. I wanted to have the 3 required for the swap done by the end of this month so I could send them off with plently of time to cope with the postal service. I’ve planned to do  mixed media cards.  So they are begun with a watercolour wash.  Then a bit of ink drawing.  Then some stitched embroidery to embelish.

Sixth:   ????? I’m not sure.  Could be some crafting; working on that big cross stitch project, or on the weird cushion, or on something else entirely.

 After all… you can’t plan creativity out of existence can you?

Oh.. and in between that … I know there will be some housework etc.  In fact I just heard the washing machine stop.  Time to put out the clothes!

When I was a little child I had a book -actually I was a lucky child and had more than one, but we are only concerned with one book today.  This book was called “Make and Do”.  I’m pretty sure it had a picture of a maccaroni necklace on the cover.  That in itself should describe the book’s artistic aspirations.  Never-the-less it was one of my favourite books.  It kept me company whilst the adults were busy participating in their adult life.  It kept me “out of trouble’. 

These days I am still  kept “out of trouble” by my attempts to make and do.  Only now I am not getting out of my mother’s way, but rather I am finding a way out of my entangled mind.   Making something, (anything really -  so long as it requires thoughtfulness and physical activity), removes me from worries and allows me to re-open my internalised “Make and Do’ book.

I usually don’t leave my sketch book lying around for just anyone to see.  Its exposure is usally limited to those I know will give me a postive reponse - my partner and my sister.  But today I bought some expensive paper from which to make some artists trading cards.  I joined a swap!  Oh my God!  Someone else will not only see my picture but will own it!  This is very exciting!

Most people feel lumps in the throat.  I am like most people.  Mamonth lump = no voice = no words.  Or , at best, lumpy words.

I joined my first Artists’ trading card swap a couple of days ago.  I love anonimity at this time of my life. There was a time when anonimity was frightening.  But not now. Now it’s peace.

Be kind.  Be gentle for this is my first post.  I am a beginner and do not know how to do this properly yet.  I don’t even  know why I am doing this.  But here I am.  Here you are.  But we may not be here together.  When I was little I always remembered how to spell that word, “together”, by breaking it into the smaller words ” to get her”.  

They are coming to get her.

I’m not sure what I intend for this blog.  I might try to thread together some pieces of arty crafty work and see if they make any sense.  At this stage I pass the time with some knitting, embroidery, cross-stitch, drawing and writing.  I also should be continuing to work on carving a walking stick. 

It’s coming to get her

So we’re away.  I’ll have to upload some pictures.  I’ll have to take some pictures, then upload them. 

Good wishes to all,

C